Visitors

I am very excited to announce that I have recently joined The Synergy Moon Project, which is one of the leading official teams of Google Lunar X Prize, a $30 million international competition to safely land a robot on the surface of the Moon, travel 500 meters over the lunar surface, and send images and data back to the Earth.

“The Synergy Moon is unique in that its members personify an eccentric, electrifying merge of the arts and sciences. Our spirit is one of social entrepreneur meets extreme adventurer, approaching the world and the creative drive of an artist with the problem solving skills of an engineer. Our company growth plan involves both private sector funding and the unique inclusion of high profile sponsorship opportunities for some of the world's top brands ready to get their message out on a global scale. We encourage international, interdisciplinary collaborations and innovation as we bring together and induce a fusion of space, art, and humanity, coalescing for on the ground beneficial change for the whole of the human family.”

I have already had the opportunity to talk with some of the leading team members and I was very impressed by the extent to which we all share the same philosophy. The Synergy Moon Project is not just about participating in competition and getting a rover to the Moon. This project aspires much higher and is dedicated to bringing new opportunities to people and especially children through science, education, art and entertainment. The Synergy Moon project collaborates with several important organizations and funding partners from all over the world. New collaboration with The University of Antofagasta in Chile is another great success.

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"Zagreb, Croatia (July 13, 2011) – Synergy Moon Team Leader Miroslav Ambrus-Kis (MAK) of Zagreb, Croatia today announced a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Universidad de Antofagasta and Team Synergy Moon, a competitor for the Google Lunar X PRIZE. The Universidad de Antofagasta and Team Synergy Moon are jointly interested in technology transfer of lunar exploration technology to Chilean industry. The MOU, signed by Team Synergy Moon co-founder Kevin Myrick and Universidad de Antofagasta Rector Dr. Luis Alberto Loyola Morales links a Moon Mars Atacama Research (MMARS) with a new industrial park in the Second Region of Chile to stimulate mutually beneficial high fidelity research and development, with a focus on building deployable prototypes for MMARS, transferring technological innovations in robotics to the Chilean mining industry, and accomplishing the Team Synergy Moon Google Lunar X Prize mission to soft-land a planetary rover on the Moon.”

"The Atacama Desert of Chile has one of the most extreme environments in the world with not a drop of rain in recorded history making it the driest desert on Earth. A lack of precipitation in this unique atmosphere prompted the installation of highly technical astronomical instruments providing scientists with world class observatories to study the details of our solar system and extra-solar systems resulting in an accelerated development of a clear Chilean presence in the international astronomical community. The very unique and arid landscape of Atacama has qualities of a Lunar or Martian analogue on Earth, and provides some key in-situ variables for defining and refining many of the viability protocols necessary for human survival to pave the way for exploring on the Moon or Mars. The Astronaut Teacher Alliance (TATA) has now addressed this issue by working with the new Agencia Chilena del Espacio (Chilean Space Agency), the Chilean Air Force, the Universidad de Antofagasta and other Chilean government offices in collaborations with the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA), the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the Moon Society, and the European Southern Observatory (ESO)."

The Hobbies section mentions that astronomy, astrophotography and space exploration have been my big interests since early childhood. Previous research of mine was born out of these interests and focused on simulating artificial evolution of populations of Mars rovers. Later, this research attracted the attention of The Advanced Concepts Team of European Space Agency, which led to our collaboration with them.

Perhaps you know that I am soon finishing PhD in artificial intelligence and was already offered a 4 years post-doctoral position for yet another multinational project sponsored by the European Union. On one hand, I have the opportunity to go down this route and keep doing research in developmental robotics. On the other hand, I could accept the offer to establish and lead a new research laboratory at Atacama Desert in Chile, extend this research and apply it to the real rover that will be exploring Moon’s surface.

“Only actions can speak louder than words, and we at the Human Synergy Project want to stop talking and start doing. Only by acting in the present can we rectify the past and sculpt the future."